ce General White
met them, and by common consent there was a pause. Most of his Staff
were with him too. In a very few words he welcomed the first visible
evidence of relief. He thanked his own garrison for their splendid
service in the defence, and added that now he would never have to cut
down their rations again, a thing that always went to his heart.

Then followed roar after roar of cheering--cheers for White, for Buller,
for Ward, for many others. Then, all of a sudden, we found ourselves
shouting the National Anthem in every possible key and pitch. Then more
cheering and more again.

But it was getting dark. The General and Staff turned towards
Headquarters. The new arrivals had to be settled in their quarters for
the night. Most were taken in by the Imperial Light Horse--alas! there
is plenty of room in their camp now! To right and left the squadrons
wheeled, amid greetings and laughter and endless delight. By eight
o'clock the street was almost clear, and there was nothing to show how
great a change had befallen us.

About ten a tremendous explosion far away told that the Boers were
blowing up the bridges behind them as they fled.

And so with to-night the long siege really ends. It is hardly credible
yet. For 118 days we have been cut off from the world. All that time we
have been more or less under fire, sometimes under terrible fire. What
it will be to mix with the great world again and live each day in
comparative security we can hardly imagine at present. But the peculiar
episode called the Siege of Ladysmith is over.

APPENDIX

APPENDIX

HOW LADYSMITH WAS FED

LADYSMITH, _March 23, 1900_.

_Where all worked so well it would be a shame to say Ladysmith was saved
by any particular branch of the service--the naval guns, the Army
Service Corps, or the infantry soldier. But it is quite certain that
without the strictest control on the food supply we could not have held
out so long, and by the kindness of one whose authority is above
question I am able to give the following account of how the town was fed
for the seventeen weeks of the siege._

THE PROBLEM.

A celebrated French writer on military matters has said: "There are two
words for war--_le pain et la poudre_."

In a siege _le pain_ is of even greater importance than _la poudre_, for
"hunger is more cruel than the sword, and famine has ruined more armies
than battle." Feeding must go on at least three times a day, and